Japan is an odd case. Consoles have a tough time there because I believe there is a negative stigma about teens and adults playing video games at home and not “being productive”. They get around this with phones and tablets because those are for work and school wink wink. Handhelds probably get the excuse that they are being used on public transportation and such. This places consoles into a hardcore gamer Otaku market which even Sony is just passively servicing.
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- Step 1) Buy Capcom and Sega and make their games Xbox exclusive
- Step 2) Not care about the Japanese console market
- Step 3) Thats it
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Step 4) Get a big bag to put all the Gamepass money in.
Yeah, xCloud is all that matters. Sure, you can make the consoles available for the few that want them (and maybe it might be more if xCloud hooks people), but they aren’t the play there.
Is Android or iOS bigger in Japan?
I think iOS its bigger than Android in japan, at least as much as i know, but im not completely sure
Going off a quick search it seems almost 50/50, but leans slightly on the ios side.
As for xbox in Japan I think it is just way too late at this point. The brand has a deeply dug stigma. We also don’t see things from Microsoft’s financial perspective - is it really beneficial to sink marketing funds into that market, or would the company benefit more with other marketing strategies, be it less risk and likely more rewarding. We often look at things as consumers, but need to think outside that box to really get a grasp on the industry
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Level 5 would be perfect, why? They’re financially hurting right now so they can benefit from MS They have a ton of kid friendly IP’s and Phil has said that he wants more E rated games MS would own Yokai watch. Imagine an AAA competitor to Pokemon and also it being on phones, tablet, PC etc.
I know Level 5 and MS had a falling out nearly 20 years ago but that’s just it, it was 20 years ago
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Microsoft and Obsidian had troubles once too, they got over it. Level-5 would be great.
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Ship some actual Xbox Series consoles to Japan
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Release Forza Horizon 5 set in Japan for a nice boost
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xCloud streaming is the futures and console sales will follow
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Get content the Japanese market care about
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Profit
But why? Why does MS NEED to? They’ve tried for multiple generations with no results. Why throw more good money after bad?
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Not worth it. Focus on getting Japanese support for games that the west cares about. Even Sony is having trouble finding appealing software for the Japanese and other Asian markets these days.
I’m looking at things from a slightly different angle here, adding to the points made about handheld gaming and mobile gaming’s popularity there.
But maybe the biggest factor could be 5G? With Japan having some population dense areas, 5G could rollout nicely in many parts of it. It’s not only fast, but extremely low latency. 1ms from device to tower.
Having adequate Cloud infrastructure in Japan along with 5G covers connectivity and makes it more like a handheld experience with no perceivable lag.
And to add to that, an Xbox Series P (portable) device with a built in controller like the Switch could be important. It would need 5G support of course. I only bring this up because unless you have that Razor add on, carrying a controller with you is cumbersome. Sometimes you need to package things nicely for people to consider it.
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I think to assume that Sony faltering in Japan would equate to Microsoft potentially gain ground in Japan is rather naive, and isn’t really understanding as to why Sony is losing ground in Japan in the first place. Sony’s decline in Japan has been something that has been happening over the past decade or so, due to the rise in mobile gaming in the Japanese market, alongside how big of a deal the Switch is in the Japanese market.
I think those two realities are why the notion of Microsoft ever gaining ground where selling consoles is concerned in the market is a lost cause, and I’d argue it’s just as much of a lost cause for Microsoft as it is Sony. Sony’s current strategy when it comes to the Japanese market is to shift resources from aiding the smaller Japanese developers (there was a period of time where Sony actually helped localize some Japanese titles to the rest of the Asian market, like many of Falcom’s titles), to focusing on the Japanese games that have a western following, hence securing the resident evil VIII marketing deal, and securing timed exclusivity on Final Fantasy 16 and project Athia.
Even when it comes to Sony’s own 1st party, Sony’s own Japan studio is falling apart with many of the key figures of the studio going on to form their own studio. I simply just feel that there is no future for the console space in Japan and I’d argue that when it came to Sony’s relevance continuing to fade in the Japanese market, their biggest mistake, was not releasing a successor to the Playstation Vita and abandoning their handhelds. I think handhelds were the only way Sony was ever going to stay relevant, and them abandoning them is kinda what’s lead to where we are now.
I also find the comparison to Epic’s success with Unreal Engine 4 adoption rather apples and oranges. I feel that the adoption of many Japanese developer’s adoption of unreal engine has much to do with the struggles many developers had during the 360/ps3 period with HD console development. If we look at square for example, they started off the PS4/Xbox One generation showcasing the luminous engine only for us to slowly learn that luminous was kind of a piece of shit to work with, leading to the transition of games like KH3 from luminous to unreal engine. Another aspect of it is, how much some of these Japanese games sell both in Japan and globally, and I suspect the conclusion that publishers like Bandai Namco came to was that, it would be cheaper to use UE4 as it would lead to more revenue from games sold instead of spending however many years developing their own engines for their titles, and considering that nearly every major Bamco game now (even stuff that really only sells in the Japanese market like the idolm@aster series), it seems that it’s paid off for them.
What does this mean for Xbox? I think the fact of the matter is simply that many of the triple A Japanese developers you see working on games in Japan are developers who are making games for the western market, and as Phil has said in interviews, when Xbox approaches Japanese developers, it’s not about “help us sell Xboxs in Japan” it’s “how can we help you reach a global audience and find success” and I think that’s the best strategy that Microsoft can go with for now largely because that’s a strategy that I think resonates most with Japanese creators and actually makes them want to work with Xbox. I also think them introducing Japanese franchises like Dragon Quest and Yakuza to Xbox via gamepass is a very smart strategy and one that I think will pay off.
When it comes to Microsoft winning in terms of services in Japan, I think the only shot they have at it is with Xcloud, but I think to make Gamepass compelling in Japan you’d naturally need some compelling Japanese content, which then I suppose poses the question of, if Microsoft wanted to do an acquisition in Japan who could they buy? Honestly I’m not too sure, and I think there options are rather limited. Sega is a possibility and I think since Atlus would come with Sega, that would be a very big deal in Japan given Persona’s popularity, but beyond that I’m not really sure.
MS buying Square Enix could be a very large get, since with Square Enix would come Dragon Quest, one of the most popular JRPGs in Japan, but I think if MS were to make a move at Square Enix, you’d 1) likely see Sony also try and make a move, and 2), all of this hinges on the assumption that Square Enix is interested in selling (same for Sega for that matter), which I just don’t think is the case.
For now I think the best strategy is the one they currently have, as it’s a strategy that has resonated with Japanese creators. I think with the current strategy the issues MS faces is largely Sony’s influence in the country and it’s ability to buy timed exclusivity with relative ease, and honestly I’m unsure how you combat that. Given Project Athia, FF7R and FF16’s timed exclusivity it would not surprise me in the least if Sony somehow just manages to lockdown timed exclusivity for Square Enix’s entire output this generation.
I think what is perhaps most interesting, and what makes me hopeful however is the fact that Japanese developers are very very interested in releasing their games in as many platforms as possible. Even in Sony’s ambitions for the PS5 to be as big of a 3rd party timed exclusivity power-house as the PS2 was, they still only managed to lockdown 1 year of exclusivity for FF7R and 18 months of exclusivity on FF16, which is to say that even with the Sony money Square is still very interested in releasing those games on other platforms, and in particular PC. I feel that Japanese developers being interested in bringing their games to PC was already a case of MS winning half the battle when it comes to Japanese creators.
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Sony abandoned Japan back with the PS3 so I don’t know why people are so shocked about the PS5 situation. The PS3 started life as the worst possible console to help the Japanese market at the time. The gaming community always seems to blame the Xbox for making console gaming “Westernized”, AAA blockbuster focused, and the loss of quirky Japanese games, but it was Sony that technically caused all of that.
It worked for Sony, but Japan suffered as a result.
This is a great idea that I hadn’t thought of. Microsoft could be the first to make the first next generation Pokemon game before Nintendo.
That’s a good question. For me, it’s mainly about reliably getting Japanese games. That is still one of the main selling points of Playstation for me.
I was seeing a lot of xCloud in this thread but was unconvinced because of my own experience. I tested my Canadian broadband speed to the nearest Azure data center and the latency was unacceptably high.
If 5G lives up to the hype and does what you say, then a Series P device could be revolutionary for Xbox in Japan. Reducing latency is critical and Japanese telecommunications infrastructure is probably better prepared for it than anywhere else.
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One of the cited reasons in that article of Sony’s faltering in Japan is their “censorship policy” on Japanese games. Seeing as Xbox wanted to do the same kind of thing to Gal Gun Returns (causing the developer to scrap the Xbox version altogether, not exactly helping their Japanese approach.), I would say getting rid of that would be a great start.
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Japan is a tough market. Even with the Xbox 360, it didn’t manage to sell very well. There’s two things I would suggest that could help, but even then it probably won’t make a difference.
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Make sure that all 3rd party multi-platforms are hitting the system, even for minor games. Letting them skip Xbox is a mistake. Take for example the SaGa Frontier Remaster. It’s coming to Switch, PlayStation, PC, iOS and Android, but it’s skipping the Xbox. Making sure all Multiplatform games come to the system will help alleviate concerns regarding if a game will end up on the system or not. Usually when a game is announced by a 3rd party studio, 99% of the time it launches on PlayStation. It should be like that on Xbox as well, at least from big publishers.
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When xCloud fully comes out across multiple devices, include a link to play a demo via xCloud when they publish their videos on YouTube. That way if someone is watching a trailer and wants to check out the game, they can do so on the spot.
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Oh yes!
An android device with the best OLED 1080p screen at $500 with a compatible controller, VRR and 5G.
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